Ouf, I'm tired

Being a day camp tutor is HARD. Long days, lots of physical activity, hot sun, annoying kids... But it's also rewarding. I've learned to find the good in the bad. Long days: more experience for my job. Lots of physical activity: I'll get in shape. Hot sun: maybe a tan. Annoying kids: they're using the correct verb tense to mouth off to me.

I have two particularly difficult students for two very different reasons. One is a 13 year old boy with the maturity of a 5 year old. He's very smart but refuses to do any work. The other is 12 and I'm convinced he's got undiagnosed... something. He freaks out of what seems to us to be no reason, he shows ODC tendencies, he eats his glue and pencil shavings.... I really don't know what to do with him. He's okay during actual lessons, but refuses to socialize at breaks or at lunch time... So I just let him be. I include him (in what I hope to be a non-aggressive/non-scary way) during the lessons and simply make sure he isn't doing anything dangerous during the breaks. So yeah.

Today was a lot of fun. This morning, we played a version of tag. What was great was that the tutors were "it" and I had a chance to go after some of my students. Sadly (and hilariously) this backfired on me. A kid sidestepped me, out -maneuvered me and I ended up face-planting into a wall. I was a huge (but not deep) scrape on my right arm that'll bruise up nicely. War scar, I think lol.

Tonight was my last night with this host family. They had never hosted a tutor before and requested to only have one week with me. The host mother assures me that the next host family is fantastic, so I'm optimistic. My host family had guests for dinner and it was so much fun. The mother spent almost 5 years living in England and relished the idea of practicing her English. I was also treated to stories about how the fathers met, gossip about other host families and the families of other students and a plethora (well, 2) of suggestions of where to go out tonight. They were so understanding of my desire to spend for English adult time (as they called it) with some fellow tutors, minus host families and students. We ended up at this sketchy bar called Area 51. It was sketch going in, but once out back it was great. There were BBQ pits going where people were cooking food (smelled AWESOME), a great patio type getup and a good 10€ bottle of red wime for the three of us. My host mom didn't even think twice about "letting" me go out: she gave me the house keys, walked me out and showed me exactly where to go. Fantastic!

Well, it's 1:33am and, guess what? I'M EXHAUSTED! I barely slept last night and I seem to have allergies.

Good night.

I do miss you <3

Boone St-Jean!!